Expressing Myself

Might I seriously consider reconnecting to Twitter?   Or Sermo?  Social media has gotten some justified negative assessments, from time sink, which it is for sure, to swamp of the toxic, to transporting our perfectly agile minds to echo chambers where they can languish.  All true.  But their popularity rests in an inherent desire for people to express what they think in an environment of no personal risk.  Can't do that at work.  Can't just say what we think of our Rabbi or Pastor in an open forum.  Can do that on Twitter.

To construct my day yesterday, I extracted a subset of my Daily Task List to identify how I would like to express my thoughts during that single day.

1. Add to text in the book I committed myself to writing
2. Comment to an author my thoughts on her book
3. Comment on an editorial from The Forward
4. Comment on an article from a subscription that is about to expire without renewal
5. Write a blog entry
6. Comment on a KevinMD essay of my choosing
7. Begin an article on physician retirement that a site invited me to do
8. Finish my article on misuse of synagogue seating during our Holy Days
9. Start my comments on my congregation's Rabbinical future
10. Add my thoughts to r/Judaism on Reddit

Ten worthy forums where I have thoughts.  Ten where I don't particularly care what any reader would find objectionable.  I completed five, worked on two others, saved the other three for a concentrated effort not that far into the future.

Probably should make a similar list every day, and keep score on how well I do each day.

Six Projects

Semiannual planning amid a time of overwork, where one transfers from one urgency to another without regard to importance.  There are patients that need to be seen right now, others in the hospital that need to be seen today, expected to show up at AKSE on Saturday morning, there are deadlines related to my medical license and to closure of my office which still goes on one year after the last patient exited the exam room.  Most of the important things do not have deadlines but are easily deferred to less important things that do.  Each June and December I try to decide which things deserve my attention and creation of some appointment time with myself to do them.  Usually I agonize over this, often spending more effort with the planning than the doing.  It started out that way again but to my surprise, the projects fell readily into place over coffee at the Brew Ha-Ha about two weeks ago.

1. I will pass Endocrine Recertification Boards
2. I will create an estate plan with the attorney
3. My bedroom will be decluttered and redesigned as my personal sanctuary
4. The scale will read under 150 pounds
5. My blog will become an interactive one
6. I will finish the book I bought on how to derive maximum benefit from my iPod

All projects are doable and have identifiable end points where a box can be checked as done or not done.  In the two weeks since its creation, the progress has been less than I hoped but this week I carved out specific time to do some of these things.  Unfortunately I am still often tired when I return home at the end of the day.  The bedroom and estate planning can be done on Sundays, the other stuff probably best to carve out 20 minute blocks during the week.  The trick to accomplishing these will likely be to have finite intermediate points and somebody prodding me along the way.